A third of people said they would want to wait until the relationship started getting serious before finding out how the other person earns, making this wait-and-see tactic the most popular option, while 19pc would wait until they officially become a couple and 15pc prefer to leave the question untouched until moving in together.

Overall, just 57pc of married people know exactly what their partner earns.

However, Britons are more cautious about getting involved with a heavily indebted person. Some 15pc of people would want to know after a few dates if a partner had a bad credit rating or a lot of debts while 6pc would want to know immediately, compared to 10pc and 2pc respectively for the curious about salaries.

Women were also more conscious than men when it comes to debt-laden partners – and notably more likely to ditch a boyfriend if they found out that he owed a lot of money.

Four in 10 women said they would break up with someone if they discovered a large debt pile, compared to 26pc of men who said they would do the same.

Unsurprisingly, this grows with age, rising from 43pc of 16- to 24-year-olds to 68pc of people above 55. Full financial disclosure also becomes more common the longer a couple has been married, increasing from 29pc of people whose wedding was within the last year to 70pc of people who tied the knot more than 20 years ago.

Three in 10 prefer some privacy, sharing financial information on a need-to-know basis, while 15pc of people in a relationship think their monetary affairs are none of their partner's business.